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WINTER 2013 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 3
Contents 8
Playground Magazine | Volume 13 No. 4 | Winter 2013
Features Risky Play is Good Play!
8
by Joan Almon
12
Favorite Subject at School? Recess, of Course! by Melinda Bossenmeyer
16
Who Has More Fun, The Grandparents or The Kids? by Dr. Joe L. Frost
12
Studying the Science of Play
20
21
by Dr. Stuart Brown
Imagine a World in Which All Children Experience Nature in Their Everyday Lives by Susan Sachs Lipman
Rochester’s Best Playground is Inside!
22
Discovering the National Museum of Play by Scott Eberle
Promoting the Value of Play
23
by Carly Summers
Making the Most of Recess
24
by Cindy Wilson
Naturalizing the Places of Childhood
25
by Natural Learning Initiative
Restoring Play to the Lives of Children
26
16
by Joan Almon
Championing the Child’s Right to Play
27
by Dr. Marcy Guddemi
Leadership in Promoting the Benefits of Free,
28
Outdoor Play on Playgrounds by Lesley Sillaman
Who’s Talking About Play? 30 Reference of Play Organizations 29
DEPARTMENTS
7 PGPEDIA.COM 15 4 Great Play Days 27 CPSI Course Calendar 4 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2013
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WINTER 2013 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 5
Rita Watts Editor
What’s Your Play Story? Publisher Curtis Stoddard
Editor Rita Watts
Advertising Director Lauri Burns
Design Jake Amen Printing Falls Printing
Accounting Evelyn Coolidge Webmaster Jake Amen
Contributing Authors Joan Almon Melinda Bossenmeyer Dr. Stuart Brown Scott Eberle Dr. Joe L. Frost Dr. Marcy Guddemi Susan Sachs Lipman Lesley Sillaman Carly Summers Cindy Wilson Copyright, 2013 published by Playground Professionals, LLC, 4 issues per year, sub rates, back copies, foreign, reproduction prohibitions, all rights reserved, not responsible for content of ads and submitted materials, mail permits, printed by Falls Printing, Idaho Falls, ID.
CORPORATE OFFICES Playground Professionals LLC P.O. Box 807 Ashton, Idaho 83420
www.playgroundprofessionals.com
6 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2013
I had an idyllic childhood. Growing up on the farm in Iowa gave me endless opportunities for play, and though we had plenty of work to do as children, our “playground” was available all around us! The barn! Our climbing event was the tall ladder to the hay loft where we built forts out of hay bales and hid from our little sisters. My brother could climb higher than me and even walk across the barn rafters, but my calculation of risk kept me from attempting that feat. The long rope swing in the barn swung its riders far past the barn door and went higher than any schoolyard swing. The creek! What exploring we did wading in our creek, damming up narrow parts, trying our luck at fishing! Of course, we had to pull off the blood suckers after wading, but that was just part of the deal. In the winter we swept the snow off the ice and gave it our best shot at ice skating in Mom’s old ice skates. Where was Mom? Not anywhere near us, like all the other moms of our era. She was busy in the house and didn’t look for us until dinner time! The backyard! Dad built us a tree house, a tire swing, a sand pit, and even gave us one of the outbuildings that he moved into the backyard for a playhouse for us, with electricity! Didn’t we have fun playing house and even sleeping outside! The fence in the backyard made a great balancing board, and we walked from one end to the other over and over. By the way, with all of our active play, none of us ever broke a bone or was hurt more than a minor cut! The schoolyard! It was an expected event for my first day of school each year to come home with bandaged knees from playing on our asphalt playground. Obviously, I played hard! And we only wore dresses to school in those days! Now my grandchildren have a different play story. They live in an apartment complex in the city where they are not allowed to play on the grounds. The closest playground is a school playground where they have to wait until school is dismissed to play and for a parent to be able to take them. They, like the majority of kids today are missing out on the simple joys of free, unstructured, open-ended play. Play that allows them to discover the world around them in their own way without the aid of helicoptering parents. What’s your play story? If you remember more unrestricted play, can you envision it for your children today? We at Playground Professionals are excited about the future of play and take great joy in championing play and the playground industry through this print magazine and our online websites. While The Play and Playground Encyclopedia website chronicles the history of play and playgrounds, The Play and Playground News Center website gathers current news and views as a resource for those concerned with what is happening today. For those involved in purchasing playground equipment, our two directory websites offer contact information to connect with the right people: The Park and Recreation Equipment Directory for the industry’s best manufacturers and Local Playground Professionals Directory for local sales representatives, contractors, and architects. Playground Professionals is also excited to offer Playground Magazine in a digital format as well as in print. While the print magazine requires a modest subscription rate to cover printing costs, the digital format is free to anyone who subscribes online. The digital version is available when the magazine is printed, and archived versions will be available as well. Since the printed Playground Magazine has always been seen as a valuable resource, we believe the digital archives will be greatly used and appreciated.
Subscribe for free!
www.playgroundmag.com/subscribe www.playgroundmag.com
The Play & Playground Encyclopedia - pgpedia.com Over 600 listings of play and playground related companies, organizations, events, books, magazines, safety, people and blogs.
Free Play FREE PLAY IS UNSTRUCTURED, voluntary, child-initiated activity that allows children to develop their imaginations while exploring and experiencing the world around them.1 It is the spontaneous play that comes naturally from children’s natural curiosity, love of discovery, and enthusiasm.2 Playing with dolls, blocks, molding clay, and crayons and paper all allow for unstructured creative play.3 Outdoor play encourages space for all kinds of physical activity, such as building forts, playing on playgrounds, and climbing trees. Play theorist, Bob Hughes, has identified sixteen play types. Some of these play types are role-play, dramatic, fantasy, exploratory, creative, social, rough and tumble, locomotor, and symbolic. These all relate to physical, social, cognitive, creative, and emotional development through free play.4 The American Academy of Pediatrics’ Clinical Report on The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds lists many benefits of free play for children. They include: healthy cognitive development, use of creativity and expansion of imagination, interaction with the world around them, development of social skills in learning to share and resolve conflicts, practice in decision-making skills, and confidence building.5 Jean Piaget wrote extensively in his book, Play, Dreams and Imitation in Childhood, about the links between play and intellectual, cognitive development. He outlined a progression of free play activities, such as functional, exploratory, sensorimotor activities (holding a rattle, repeatedly dropping a toy as play) to more symbolic play as the child ages to include building with blocks and pretending to feed a doll. The final developmental stage is when the child can play games with rules, such as tag or marbles.6 Free play encourages children to develop their imagination while using their creativity. Playing with toys that can only be used one way and passive activities like playing
www.pgpedia.com/f/free-play video games do not employ creativity.7 Pretending and role-playing are important activities for children to expand their understanding of the world around them and prepares them for the adult world. Children gain confidence as they learn how to solve their own problems and develop other social skills like sharing, listening to other’s ideas, give and take, and compromising.8 Free play develops motor skills as children run, jump, and chase outdoors and play on a well-equipped playground. Swinging freely on overhead playground equipment develops upper body strength as well as agility, balance, eye-hand coordination, and fitness. Free play in outdoor activities engages more motor behaviors than in structured physical education classes.9 The American Academy of Pediatrics’ Clinical Report stated that the need for unstructured free play in the life of children “is so important to optimal child development that it has been recognized by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights as a right of every child.”10 The report suggests several societal changes that impact the routine of childhood and reduce the opportunity for free play: • Families are smaller with parents busy with work schedules and little free time to care for children. •
•
•
There is an increasing pressure felt by parents to make time productive for children filling it with academic activities and enrichment programs. The No Child Left Behind Act has inadvertently pressured schools to drop creative play activities, such as recess, the arts, and physical education, which will likely impact the emotional and social development of children. The passive entertainment of television and computer/video games decreases the amount of free play activity which also impacts the mental, social, and physical development of the children as well as their future health.
Keep in touch with pgpedia.com! www.playgroundmag.com www.playgroundmag.com
Image courtesy of racorn/Shutterstock.net
•
Finally, the report acknowledged that in many communities it is unsafe for children to play outside of the home without close adult supervision and protection.
Reference
1 “Why your child needs ‘free play’” Rediff. com. < http://in.rediff.com/getahead/2007/ may/17child.htm > 16 Aug. 2010.
2 “Free Play” Hasbro.com. < http://www.hasbro. com/playdoh/en_US/freePlay.cfm > 16 Aug. 2010. 3 Peters, Diane. “Creative Kids: 5 Ways to Spark Their Imaginations. Free Play.” Kaboose.com. < http://parenting.kaboose.com/age-and-stage/ creative_freeplay.html > 16 Aug. 2010. 4 Cole, Sally and Chris Taylor. “Free Play for All Ages.” Children Webmag.com. < http://www. childrenwebmag.com/articles/play-articles/freeplay-for-all-ages > 16 Aug. 2010. 5 Ginsburg, Kenneth R. “The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds. American Academy of Pediatrics. < http:// www.aap.org/pressroom/playFINAL.pdf > 16 Aug. 2010. 6 Frost, Joe L., Sue Wortham, and Stuart Reifel. Play and Child Development. Upper Saddle Valley, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2001. pp. 46-47. 7 “The Benefits of Free Play.” Raise Smart Kid. com. < http://www.raisesmartkid.com/articles/ the-benefits-of-free-play.html > 16 Aug. 2010. 8 Op. cit., “Why your child needs ‘free play.’” 9 Op. cit., Frost. p. 166. 10 Op. cit., Ginsburg. 11 Newbauer, Connie. “Free-play and Childhood. Societal Changes and Childhood Impact.” Suite101.com. < http://earlychildhood.suite101. com/article.cfm/free_play_and_childhood > 16 Aug. 2010.
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Risky Play is Good Play! Risk: An essential ingredient in children’s play
by Joan Almon
Play without risk is like a hotdog without mustard. It’s better than nothing but so much tastier when the two are together. Play without risk still has some value, but it quickly becomes rather boring. In play children continually extend their boundaries and strengthen their abilities. This means taking risks, which they do, by assessing their own abilities and matching them to the conditions of their environment. Are the branches strong enough so that I can climb higher? Can I jump from the swing into the sand pit? Can I climb the ladder to the tall slide; can I jump from the high diving board? Play is full of such choices, but when it is sanitized and nearly devoid of risk, as happens so often today, children become disinterested. There is widespread agreement that today’s children are playing less, becoming more sedentary and overweight, and seem less able to work out social difficulties with peers. Creativity scores among children have been falling since 1990, despite the recognized need for greater creativity in the 21st century. Education gives less and less opportunity for play and creativity, and home life tends to be dominated by screen time and/or organized, adult-led activities. While some of these activities are fruitful for children, they should not replace time for child-initiated, childdirected play. In such play children get to know themselves and the world around 8 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2013
them. In such play children take chances and learn to cope with risks.
Children’s ability to assess risk Risk assessment is the child’s means of matching the demands of the environment with their own sense of inner capacity. Watch them climb a tree or a jungle gym, testing every step of the way. Few children are foolhardy and plunge ahead without testing a situation. Nonetheless, we treat children as if they are all daredevils like Evel Knievel or as if they are incapable of assessing risk. Research indicates that children as young as six months proceed with caution when a new and potentially dangerous situation appears before them. They back up or gingerly feel their way forward. Already at this young age they know how to assess risk. In my own work with young children I saw them continually risk-assess, especially in new situations. When I took them to a new park, for instance, I went first to become familiar with the possibilities and risks. Then I rarely needed to give them instructions other than defining the boundaries for roaming. They explored eagerly but not foolishly. And while we occasionally experienced splinters and scrapes, there was rarely anything more serious. Injury is always a concern, and one needs to protect children from serious injury while not wrapping the child in cot-
ton wool. How much injury is acceptable? This varies by age and circumstance but it’s best to see lesser injuries as a normal part of children’s exploration of the world. As the excellent publication, Managing Risk in Play Provision states, “In a playground, bumps, bruises, scrapes and even a broken limb are not necessarily warning signs of greater dangers, as they might be in a factory or an office environment. They are to be expected as part of everyday life for children growing up.” In an effort to protect children from all injuries, well-meaning parents and litigation-minded professionals have created a different problem — children who do not know how to handle risk because they are given too little opportunity to practice that skill. University professors, for instance, report that today’s students need everything defined with clear outcomes. They cannot tolerate any uncertainties. A course can be highly structured to meet their needs, but life itself comes in a variety of unexpected forms, including major storms and social upheavals. Many of today’s young people lack the resilience and ability to cope with risk that life inevitably brings, and that can be truly dangerous for them.
Risk on the playground I recently visited a number of playgrounds in Wales and England, both adventure playgrounds and destination www.playgroundmag.com
playgrounds that contained more adventurous opportunities than is typically available in the U.S. Many of the children using the equipment were school-age. It was wonderful to see how skilled they were in using their bodies in play. For instance, at London’s beautiful Victoria Park there was a swing made of a long log hanging from a frame on chains. One child or many children could stand on it and make it swing back and forth. It had a long range of movement, and children displayed balance and skill in making it move. At Glamis Adventure Playground in London there were swings of every type: traditional swings hanging from a round frame so children looked at each other as they swung; a large net swing in which many children could settle while others pushed; and a swing with two knotted ropes hanging from a central point. It could be used by one or two children at a time, pushing off from a sloping wooden platform that surrounded the ropes. The children periodically pushed off from the platform to keep themselves circling around and not crashing in the middle. The older ones moved fast and sat or stood on the knots in every possible position. They were amazingly skilled and looked like circus performers on the swing. At The Land, an adventure playground in Wrexham in north Wales, children were hammering together pallets to create play houses. They were similar to buildings I’ve seen at Berkeley’s adventure playground and other “hammer and nail” playgrounds. At Berkeley, builders often drop off spare lumber and children use it to construct one and two-story play houses or dens. At a Swiss adventure playground I’ve even seen three story struc-
tures built by the children. Such structures look unstable, but the children use many nails and test the structure as they build so that finished structures are quite sturdy. When the staff needs to remove the buildings to make room for more, they use a chain saw to cut them down. The wood is then burned as part of bon fires.
Glamis Adventure Playground photo courtesy of Penny Wilson Fire is a frequent element in an adventure playground. At Glamis the fire is used to cook a simple meal as well as to give warmth and light. In the winter it is growing dark when the children arrive after school, and playing in the dark is part of the fun. The playground is gently illuminated with spotlights and strings of light. But the fire is a gathering point, especially when the potatoes wrapped in foil are ready to eat, along with hot tea. An adventure playground becomes its own world in which children are free to explore and play. Wild and disorderly as it may appear, the equipment is checked daily by the adults to be sure that nothing is broken or likely to harm a child. The staff of playworkers is present and provides oversight without interference, except when clearly needed. The interactions between playworkers and children are delightful to watch, spicy and frank.
It’s clear that the children, often from difficult home environments, trust the playworkers and see them as a stable part of their lives. A question we frequently asked the playworkers was what are the characteristics that differentiate an adventure playground from a playground with adventurous equipment. In an adventure playground there is fixed equipment, often handmade by builders, but there are also loose parts — basic materials that children can play with in myriad ways. Thus the adventure playgrounds look different every day as children move tires, build houses, hang cloths, and make many other changes to their environment. Playworkers are present at adventure playgrounds to support such play, but are generally not present at a community playground or destination park. A combination of approaches takes place when a traditional playground has a play pod, a container filled with loose parts, that is opened when a playworker or volunteer is present. Some schools in the UK have play pods which are opened during recess. A wonderful video on “Scrapstore PlayPods” is available on YouTube and talks about the opportunities for risk assessment when playing with loose parts. The Venture, a thirty-year-old adventure playground in Wrexham, goes further than most playgrounds in serving as a center for community life. On the grounds of the playground is a parent-child class and an alternative school that teaches young people carpentry and plumbing. The students have built equipment for the adventure playground, including a very large play ship.
Taking a fresh look at risk One often assumes that risk leads to injury in play, but several surveys attest to low injury rates on adventure playgrounds. A 2001 survey by the National Children’s Bureau of 13 adventure playgrounds in London found that serious accidents were very rare at the adventure playgrounds. A www.playgroundmag.com
WINTER 2013 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 9
Managing Risk in Play Provision: Implementation Guide by David Ball, Tim Gill, and Bernard Spiegal (available at www.playengland.org.uk);
No Fear: Growing Up in a Risk Averse Society by Tim Gill (available at www. gulbenkian.org.uk)
2. Practice risk-benefit analysis, not just risk assessment. Chapters five and six of Managing Risk in Play Provision focus on this nuanced approach to risk and play. 3. Design play spaces with risk in mind. Rather than providing as little risk as possible, give as much risk as children can handle. Consider challenges for different ages and develop play spaces that appeal to all ages, including teens and adults. Canadian study of adventure playgrounds in Ottawa in the 1970s found lower accident rates than in traditional playgrounds. The authors commented that children seem to be more careful when they know they are handling tools or doing other things that are potentially dangerous. In other words, when children are given genuine risk, they rise to it. In a small study commissioned by the Alliance for Childhood, Halcyon ReeseLearned interviewed heads of adventure playgrounds in California. They reported some accidents but overall the rates of injuries were very low. They were not considered higher than at traditional playgrounds, and insurance companies did not require extra insurance for adventure playgrounds. Of the three adventure playgrounds, two reported a single lawsuit over a thirty year period, and the other reported none. Facing visible risks is different from encountering hidden hazards such as play equipment with a broken or poorly designed part, or broken glass on an otherwise open field. Hazards are things children cannot see and therefore cannot risk assess. It is up to the adults to do this level of assessment. It is also up to the adults to weigh benefits against risks. Skate board parks can lead to accidents, but without them children have even more injuries by developing their skills on sidewalks and streets. In the U.S. risk-benefit analysis often takes place unconsciously when we decide, for instance, that the benefits of playing sports outweigh the risks, even though 775,000 10 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2013
children ages 14 and under are treated in emergency rooms for sport-related injuries each year, according to the CDC. No one wants to see children injured but when the benefits are perceived as great, the tolerance for injury increases. Once the value of risk in play is better appreciated, the tolerance for related injuries will also be accepted, particularly as the injuries are usually of a minor nature. The current challenge is to cultivate an understanding for the value of risk in children’s play.
Suggested steps 1. Rethink risk and see its values, not just its problems. Three publications are especially helpful.
Adventure: The Value of Risk in Children’s Play by Joan Almon (available through Amazon);
4. Make sure children get to play every day, ideally for several hours, indoors and outdoors, at home and in neighborhoods, parks, and playgrounds. School recess is also a vital time for play. A new document, “A ResearchBased Case for Recess,” by Olga Jarrett lays the foundation for recess advocacy. It is available at http:// usplaycoalition.clemson.edu/. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joan Almon is a co-founder of Alliance for Childhood and a strong advocate for children’s play. She is a former co-chair of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America and a consultant on early childhood education.
www.playgroundmag.com
Favorite Subject at School? Recess, of Course! Why Recess Makes Kids Smarter by Melinda Bossenmeyer
According to second grader, Allison Rincand, her favorite activity at school is, “Recess because I get to play with my friends.” Her response mirrors the majority of children in elementary school where over 80% of students rate recess as their favorite subject. For decades most people have assumed that recess was unimportant, and its primary contribution was a “break” in the school day for teachers and students to get a drink and use the restroom. Going out to play was a way to extend the time needed to accomplish the above tasks. True, like Allison, students loved it, but many educators and parents alike thought recess was of little value to the developing child. However, a growing body of research indicates that recess plays a critical role in healthy child development. Best of all, from a child’s perspective, it’s fun!
History of Recess In an 1884 paper delivered before the Department of Superintendents of the National Education Association, the philosopher and educator W. T. Harris debated the question of the retention or abolition of recess. He basically said the physical needs of the student outweigh the concerns over the loss of discipline in the school-room and the possible association of pupils with fellow pupils of “worse character.” He declared that the chief usefulness of recess was the complete suspension of tension brought on by academics.1
CDC estimates that elementary students have recess for an average of 4.9 days per week in the schools that report regularly scheduling it (SHPPS 2006).3 The U.S. Department of Education survey shows that 88 percent of elementary schools give first graders daily recess, and 83 percent provide it every day to sixth graders (FRSS 2005).4 What we see is shrinking minutes. Since No Child Left Behind was enacted in 2001, recess minutes have dropped from 37 minutes a day to on average 24-27 minutes a day by 2008.
Health Benefits of Recess Of the districts that have cut recess a new phenomenon is emerging. Parents are fighting back. With the growing body of research on the importance of recess and the growing size of waistlines in youth, parents are heeding the warning of pediatricians and health advocates across the nation regarding the importance and
contribution that recess plays in healthy students. In January 2013, Pediatrics Magazine, the journal of American Academy of Pediatrics, released an article entitled, “The Crucial Role of Recess in Schools.”5 The article stated, A growing trend toward reallocating time in school to accentuate the more academic subjects has put this important facet of a child’s school day at risk. Recess serves as a necessary break from the rigors of concentrated, academic challenges in the classroom. But equally important is the fact that safe and well-supervised recess offers cognitive, social, emotional, and physical benefits that may not be fully appreciated when a decision is made to diminish it. There are a number of health benefits of recess including exercise that helps to maintain a healthy weight, contributes to stronger muscles and bones, and helps to control weight. On its own, recess time can’t reverse the childhood obesity trend,
Recess Statistics The 2012 Survey of Health Policies and Practices Study (SHPPS) revealed that only 58.9% of districts require schools to provide recess.2 The range of mandated minutes ranges from less than 10 minutes to more than 30 minutes a day. The popular belief that recess is disappearing is in fact a myth as surveys indicate that most students get recess. The 12 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2013
www.playgroundmag.com
but it can contribute to promoting the habit of an active lifestyle which is a critical component of good health. Physical activity opportunities during recess also contribute to the body’s ability to fight disease and ward off colds and allergies, which results in better school attendance.
Academic Benefits of Recess and Physical Activity In recent years a growing body of research has indicated that there is a close relationship between academics and physical activity achieved at recess. Physical activity helps with concentration, the ability to focus. Students are less fidgety and more on task after a recess break which is important in cognitive development and skill acquisition.6 In the book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, author John Ratey discusses that “aerobic exercise physically remodels the brain for peak performance.” Although clearly, only a small percentage of students reach an aerobic level of exercise at recess, the notion that physical activity may “warm up the brain for learning” is now being investigated.
tured opportunities to self select friends and playmates, test relationships, learn social appropriateness, and learn to generally “play nice.” Physical activity is also known to help mitigate depression and anxiety in children.” Young children today have less unstructured time than ever before. Even play time outside of school is often scheduled with play dates, lessons, and/or sports teams. Attendance in all of these activities are organized and directly supervised by adults. Recess is one of the few remaining opportunities for children to choose a friend out of a playground full of peers with the option of “trying out both a variety of playmates and a variety of game choices.”
nation. The do-it-yourself playground kit allows schools to add 100 or more games and markings to their playground, promising that kids engaged in playground games play nice. You can learn more about Peaceful Playgrounds at www.peacefulplaygrounds.com. 1
Harris, T.W., “Recess: a Paper read by W.T. Harris before the Department of Superintendents of the National Educational Association at Washington, February 13, 1884,” History of Education, Popular Education Document No.20, Fiche 3727.
Recess the top opportunity for physical activity in schools
2
CDC & Health and Human Services, “School Policies and Practices Study 2012”. <http:// www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/shpps/>
3
CDC & Health and Human Services, “School Policies and Practices Study 2006.”
4
Institute of Education Sciences. U.S. Department of Education Survey. Fast Response Survey System. 2005.
5
Pediatrics. The Crucial Role of Recess in Schools. <http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/ content/131/1/183.full>
6
Jarrett, O. S., Maxwell, D. M., Dickerson, C., Hoge, P., Davies, G., & Yetley, A. (1998). The impact of recess on classroom behavior: Group effects and individual differences. The Journal of Educational Research, 92(2), 121-126.
7
Basch CE. Healthier students are better learners: high-quality, strategically planned, and effectively coordinated school health programs must be a fundamental mission of schools to help close the achievement gap. J Sch Health. 2011; 81(10): 650-662.
8
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2007). Recess Rules: Why the undervalued playtime may be America’s best investment for healthy kids and healthy schools. Feb. 3, 2011. <http://www.rwjf.org/ vulnerablepopulations/product. jsp?id=20591>
A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study concluded that, from the body of research on physical activity in various school settings, the opportunity for physical activity is higher during recess than at other times in the day, with 42% of the activity occurring at recess, 32% during physical education (PE), and 26% during after-school programs/activities.8
Recess Advocacy
Along the same line, a Harvard study in The Journal of School Health entitled “Healthier students make better learners” indicates that “the more physical fitness tests children passed, the better they did on academic tests.” The study of 1,800 middle school students suggests that children can benefit academically from physical activity during gym class and recess.7
Social Benefits of Recess Perhaps one of the most accepted benefits of recess is the contribution of recess to social skill development. During recess children gain skills in conflict resolution by playing with their peers. They learn to share, take turns, and be a leader as well as to collaborate and negotiate around games and rules. Recess also offers one of the few times that children have unstrucwww.playgroundmag.com
With the growing body of research on the importance of recess and the vital role that recess plays in healthy child development, social skill acquisition, and academic development, it’s no surprise that parents are taking an active role in demanding that schools reinstate recess when it has been cut from school districts across the country. Parents have responded by petitioning their school boards, placing recess on PTA agendas, letter writing campaigns, and approaching the local press. A Recess Advocacy Toolkit as part of A Right to Recess Campaign is provide free by Peaceful Playgrounds, a recess program available in 8,000 schools across the country. The Recess Advocacy Toolkit includes: parent letters, a PowerPoint presentation, a meeting agenda, and advocacy guide which can be downloaded at: http://www.peacefulplaygrounds.com/ right-to-recess-campaign/ ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Melinda Bossenmeyer is the Founder of Peaceful Playgrounds which began in 1998 in California and has spread to 8,000+ schools across the
Reference
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www.playgroundmag.com
4 GREAT
Play Days
Dinosaur Play
Hangin’ Around
“Hurry! Run and hide, Dino! Bears are attacking Dinosaur Mountain!”
These girls have beaten Michael Jordan’s hangtime by days! I bet they keep hangin’ around!
R.J. THOMAS MFG. CO. INC. www.pilotrock.com
ABACUS SURFACES, INC. www.abacussurfaces.com
Three Wide Smiles
Left-Left-Left-Right-Left
Gotcha! Caught you and you’re it! Who would have thought to look in the rock log?
Technology meets play equipment! An exhilarating, heart-pumping rush! I think they need stoplights.
EVERLAST CLIMBING www.everlastclimbing.com www.playgroundmag.com
PLAYWORLD SYSTEMS www.playworldsystems.com WINTER 2013 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 15
WHO HAS MORE FUN The Grandparents Or The Kids?
by Dr. Joe L. Frost
Intergenerational Values of Play and Consequences of Play Deprivation “Those who influence children…must come to know that play is an innate, biological process, characteristic of all healthy children… just as essential as other basic needs of food, water, and shelter…that the seemingly innocuous process of free, spontaneous, outdoor play builds bodies and brains and contributes to academic success…that play is an antidote for obesity, depression, and poor socialization skills…that play is therapeutic and helps children cope with phobias, physical and mental illness, injury, and natural disasters…that the need for play does not fade away.” (Frost, 2010)
In observing children in my neighborhood and many other neighborhoods, one may assume that few children live there. Along almost all the sidewalks and walking, jogging, and cycling trails that I commonly see in Austin and other cities, the number one users are adults, second are adults and dogs, third are adults and baby carriages, dead last are kids. Want your kids to live healthier and longer? Want to be there for them? Try play, nutrition, exercise, sports, physical activity – get everyone moving! In late November, 2013, the most extensive study ever conducted of children’s fitness around the world was presented at the American Heart Association Conference in Dallas. This collaborative study, led by Grant Tomkinson of the University of South Australia, included 25 million children, ages 9-17 in 28 countries from 1964 to 2010. The results showed that children’s fitness declined worldwide during the past three decades. Fitness is poor in today’s adults and even worse for children – our most sedentary young generation in history. We are neglect-
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ing, blocking, and substituting sedentary activity for children’s free play and activity time in school, neighborhood, and home. The consequences are profound. Early play is the birthplace for imagination and creativity, but play is not just important for kids anymore. Health, fitness, and well-being during so-called retirement are dependent on similar variables as for the very young. An emerging movement to save children from such maladies as obesity, test-driven schooling, real and imagined predators, abuse of technology, junk food, and loss of free, spontaneous play has expanded in very recent years. International scholars across the behavioral sciences, medicine, and neuroscience are improving and expanding the quality and scope of research on play, extending play science beyond shortterm single studies into international collaboration - cohort studies, pooled studies, meta-analysis, crowdsourcing, and evidence driven issues about the value of play and the consequences of not playing. Such research, including interrelated issues of free play, exercise, physi-
cal activity, sports, neuroscience, play environments, and recreation, is spreading around the world with growing collaboration between universities, research centers, corporations, foundations, and governments. This paper briefly addresses a few such studies about the values of intergenerational play and the consequences of not playing.
Obesity, Poverty, and Fitness Obesity and fitness are visible and commonly used markers for determining the positive effects of play and the negative effects of not playing on overall health and well-being across generations. Obesity is classified as an epidemic, causing more than 15 percent of preventable deaths in the U.S. - more than toxins, alcohol, gun-related deaths, drug abuse, and STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) combined. About one in five children and one in three American adults are obese; and worldwide 200 million men and 300 million women are obese, doubling since 1980 (World Health Organization, 2011). The U.S. has the highest rate of obesity in the developed world, tripling in the past 30 years. Obesity is symptomatic of a growing health crisis. Poverty, cheap food, and lack of exercise are identified as chief causes, and food deserts pockmark the globe. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). The consequences are quick and cumulative. Obesity, poverty, and poor fitness go hand in hand. In 2008-2009, only 30 percent of third grade children passed the Cooper Fitness Test administered to 2.5 million Texas public school children,
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and scores declined in every successive grade level. Only 9 percent of boys and 21 percent of twelfth grade girls passed. The highest scores were in upper income area schools and the lowest in lower income schools (T.E.A., 2010). Play is essential for health, fitness, and well-being for people across all generations. Recently, the rapidly growing consequences of climate change, not addressed here, are jeopardizing outdoor play and play environments and overall quality of life and will be increasingly addressed by play scholars.
Play, Health, and Longevity Play that is beneficial to the very young and the very old is active, social, and creative, engaging the body in fine and gross motor development, and the mind in negotiation, problem solving, imagination, and creativity. For children, this requires
natural and built play environments they can adapt to the developmental forms of play they naturally select – exploration, construction, exercise, pretense, social, rough and tumble, organized games. Free, spontaneous play builds brains and bodies in a crescendo of thinking and doing – a kind of “synaptic symphony.” The values begin early as infants learn embryonic principles of creating play places and materials, adapting to existing challenges, practicing new skills, developing flexibility and creativity in mastering problems, reveling in aesthetic delights and physical accomplishments – a mere sampling of the values that may follow. Studies reported in Archives of Internal Medicine, (Jan. 25, 2010) reveal that aerobics and strength training have complementary results for youth and adults. Aerobics combats mental decline, and
strength and resistance training improves cognitive skills. Both moderate and extensive physical activity are associated with lower risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. Play is an arbitrator of early brain development including executive functioning. On the one hand, play arbitrates exercise, information, locomotion, object recognition, pleasure, social skills, language, pre-concepts, judgment, imagination, reflection, and creativity. On the down side, irrational or brutal play opens gates for fear, bullying, cruelty, mental illness, and violence (Frost & Brown, 2009; Brown, 2009). Play and learning are mutually supportive and necessary for a full childhood and a competent adulthood. The National Institute on Aging confirms that only 30% of people ages 45-60 engage in regular physical activity
“Physical exercise (including free play) acts like a natural wonder drug for the brain. It improves the heart’s ability to pump blood…burns fat…enhances overall brain function…encourages the growth of new brain cells, enhances cognitive ability…helps alleviate depression…calms anxiety…eases symptoms of ADD… helps prevent disease and dementia…” (Amen, 2010, pp .66-67, 109-115).
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WINTER 2013 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 17
and that drops to 25% for those 65-74. Exercise is linked to beneficial effects for arthritis, falls and fractures, heart disease, lung disease, cancer, diabetes obesity, and performing daily tasks. All of these conditions threaten older adults’ ability to function independently and handle tasks of daily living, the most important health outcomes for most older people. (Williamson & Pahor, 2010). But a decades-long study of more than 7,000 men and women ages 45-70 shows that even dementia can be delayed by regular physical activity and sensible diets. Both the heart and the brain are affected. Play, brain, and body are inextricably related. Play builds the prefrontal cortex that controls judgment, reasoning, and other abilities commonly called executive functioning – play changes brains and extends the life span. A mega study of more than 400,000 elderly men and women found that those who engaged in 15 minutes a day of physical activity had 14% reduction in mortality and a three year longer life expectancy. (Wen, et al, 2011). Further, pooled analysis of nine studies involving more than 34,000 subjects age 65 or older by ten researchers from universities and health institutes in four countries over a period of 6-21 years found that survival and remaining life for each age increased as gait speed increased (Studenski, et al, 2011). Play has an important partner - nutrition - for preventing disease, improving health, and extending longevity.
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Americans are playing less and eating more. Excessive consumption of calories contributes to obesity and results in health problems including heart disease, hypertension, and some common cancers. Children should be taught early to read the labels and understand what they are eating. Exercise helps prevent and benefits people with arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, balance problems, and walking. Physical activity and nutrition are common denominators for promoting health, fitness, and well-being, but they are rivaled by cyber play and sedentary activity
consequences begin early and thicken over time. The guarded conclusion is that screen time is associated with loss of life comparable to major chronic disease risk factors such as physical inactivity and obesity (Veerman, et al, 2011). Compared with those who watch no TV, those who spend 6 hours a day can expect to live 4.8 years less. So what should adults do for their children and for themselves?
Cyber Play The positive developmental benefits of play and good nutrition are deeply affected by excessive, poorly chosen cyber play and sedentary activity. Overall 8- to 18-year-olds spend an average of 7 ½ hours a day in screen time (Kaiser Foundation, 2010) and the negative effects on child development are beginning earlier and expanding over time. Technology can be good for cognitive development if used wisely, but if not used in a judicious fashion, the brain can be shaped negatively, contributing to problems of concentration and shallow thinking. Excessive multitasking has costs, both in performance and time, degrading the quality of learning and memory loss for the elderly. The brain can be rewired through abuse or overuse of technology, and excessive screen time is linked to obesity. The
What Works? Clearly, better education for people of all ages is essential. Fewer than 40 percent of the public can identify the components of ideal cardiovascular health, including health behaviors (not smoking, regular exercise, and healthy diet) and health factors (ideal body mass index, cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood glucose); and those with less education and lower socioeconomic status are less able to identify these components than those with more education. Adults must be the arbiters for ensuring time and places for play. We need parents who monitor screen time and set aside time every day for outdoor play; school leaders who understand that children need challenging, integrated built and natural playgrounds in every school, and physical education and recess every day; city leaders who understand that an intergenerational, accessible playground is needed in every neighborhood; and trained play-leaders or play-workers in every park. It is balance we need. Get active for yourself and for kids! Children at home, in their neighborhood, or at school, and even people in their 60s and 70s can get in the best physical condition of their lives. Play and nutrition are the keys, but call it what you will. Exercise, working (yes, work can have playful qualities), physical activity, sports, recreation — play matters. We www.playgroundmag.com
Louisiana Tigerettes can do it in all those places children have always selected for their natural and built playgrounds - backyards, vacant fields, hills, camps, creeks, nature areas, gardens, playgrounds, and playing fields. Play can also happen in gymnasiums and even hotel rooms. Given freedom, encouragement, and dedicated grounds for play, children will reinvent, create, and expand their historic self-selected play themes and environments. Consider the potential values of dancing, skate parks, activity stations along hiking trails, Parkour, senior Olympics, and outdoor family play in camps, parks, and wilderness areas. Regular walking and swimming are great choices for most people. British author George Trevelyan wrote a century ago about the benefits of walking, stating he had two doctors, his left leg and his right leg. We must start making time for break time, whether sitting in one of America’s failing “high stakes testing” classrooms, engaged in cyber play, or working in adult work venues. Daily play, coupled with physical education and www.playgroundmag.com
good nutrition is the cheapest, and perhaps most reliable, preventive medicine for a host of maladies from obesity to heart disease and depression to dementia across the life span. Want active evidence? Google Louisiana Tigerettes and see a fit basketball team of women in their 60s and 70s traveling the country, winning gold medals, national titles, world championships, and demonstrating the values of healthy lifestyles and play. References 1 Amen, D. G. (2010). Change Your Brain: Change Your Body. New York: Penguin. 2 Brown, S. (2009). Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul. New York: W. W. Norton. 3 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Overweight and Obesity: Childhood Obesity. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/ obesity, October 10, 2011. 4 Frost, J. L. (2010). A History of Children’s Play and Play Environments: Toward a Contemporary Child-Saving Movement. New York: Routledge.
5 Frost, J. L., & Brown, S. (2009). The consequences of play deprivation. Playground Magazine. 8 (3), 26-30. 6 Kaiser Family Foundation. (2010). Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8-18-year-olds. Menlo Park, CA: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. 7 Studenski, S. (and 18 others). (Jan. 28, 2011). Journal of American Medical Association. 305(1):50-58. Doi. 8 Texas Education Agency. (2010).Texas Fitness Test Results. (Retrieved from http://www.tea. State.Tx.US/FitnessData.html.) 9 Wen, C. P., Wai, J. P. M., Tsai, M. K., Yang, Y. C. , Ting, Y. D. C., Lee, M. C., Chan, H. T., Tsao, M. K., Shan, P. T., and Wu, X. Huston (2011). Minimum amount of physical activity for reduced mortality and extended life expectancy: A prospective cohort study. The Lancet. (Aug. 2011) 378 (9798) 1244-1253. 10 Williamson, & Pahor. (2010). Evidence Regarding the Benefits of Physical Exercise. Arch Inter Med. 2010: 170 (2): 124-125. 11 World Health Organization (2011). Obesity and Overweight. Retrieved from www.who.int/ mediacentre/factsheet/fs311/en/ October 10, 2011.
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Studying the Science of Play by Dr. Stuart Brown The National Institute for Play, a non-profit research and education corporation, believes that to experience what it means to become fully human requires lifelong immersion in healthy play. Per below, it also exists to unlock the human potential through play at all stages of life using science to discover what play has to teach us about transforming out world. To provide a context for these very broad statements that are not yet fully embraced by contemporary society, let’s take a quick review of the Institute’s history. Its founder and current president, Dr. Stuart Brown, had discovered early in his academic career as a psychiatrist studying human violence through examining the life stories of murderers, that a common
theme in their backgrounds was a severe absence of normal play behavior. This led him to a lifelong curiosity about just what play is. With his background in medicine he was grounded in looking at its complexities and paradoxes through the lens of science. As he examined play through reviews of the flood of fresh data from the biological sciences, plus extensive clinical observations in humans, and through the National Geographic Society viewing its sparkling presence in the animal world, it became clear that the discipline of play science was emergent and needed a voice. By 1996, Dr. Brown, his future Advisors and a fledgling Board realized that a distinguished group of play experts from all points of the scientific and practitioner worlds were capable collectively of providing new ways of credibly “seeing” play behavior. So the National Institute for Play was formally launched. The major activities of the NIFP have been to advocate for play while staying abreast of the continuing play-based advances largely grounded in solid science. It has also produced some of the following: •
A PBS 3 hour special TV series, “The Promise of Play.”
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A Stanford University based conference, “The First State of Play Science.”
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Numerous public presentations
bringing the story of play into broader public consciousness, such as the TED/Serious Play/Stuart Brown widely reviewed video. •
Funded by a grant from IPEMA, the recently released “Encyclopedia of Play Science” featuring essays by distinguished NIFP Advisors (http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/ Encyclopedia_of_Play_Science).
Ideally, the present state of knowledge about the importance of play throughout the human life cycle, its necessity for competency, emotional regulation, cooperation, and altruism (and more) transcend the NIFP as a small non-profit research and education corporation. The necessity of play and its participation in our species’ well-being and long term survival (yes, play is a survival instinct) mean that wellfunded research and practical applications of play science belong as a worldwide public health requirement extending well beyond our current capabilities. It is the goal of the NIFP to bring these remarkably important, accurate, and needed perceptions of play into overall societal consciousness and practice. The Board and Advisors of the Institute are dedicated to these visions and goals. The National Institute for Play
www.nifplay.org
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Imagine a World in Which All Children Experience Nature in Their Everyday Lives by Susan Sachs Lipman
We have within reach the hope and capacity to reverse the trends of the past 30 years in which so many people of all ages have become sedentary, isolated, and disconnected from the benefits, beauty, and bounty of nature’s gifts. At the same time, a growing body of research indicates that nature play positively impacts every area of children’s health and development – physical, psychological, intellectual, social, and emotional. Healing the divide between children and nature is the work of the Children & Nature Network (C&NN), which is leading the movement to connect all children, their families, and communities to nature through innovative ideas, evidence-based resources and tools, broad-based collaboration, and support of grassroots leadership. The Children & Nature Network connects more than 3,000,000 children and youth to nature annually. The Children & Nature Network was created in 2006 to encourage and support the people and organizations working nationally and internationally to reconnect children with nature. The Network promotes fundamental institutional change by providing a critical link between researchers, individuals, educators, and organizations dedicated to chil-
dren’s health and well-being. The C&NN news service and portal provides access to the latest news and research in this field, success stories, and practical advice. C&NN was started after the 2005 publication of C&NN Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods, which addressed the issue of Nature-Deficit Disorder. C&NN recently welcomed Executive Director Sarah Milligan-Toffler, a creative, missiondriven leader with more than 20 years’ experience in developing, funding, and implementing outdoor education and adventure programs that provide a deep connection to nature for people of all backgrounds and abilities. In 2009, C&NN launched the Natural Leaders Network, with Juan Martinez as its Founding Director. Today, the annual Natural Leaders Legacy Camp trains leaders ages 18-30 from around the world. A Natural Leaders Curriculum Guide is available, as is a Natural Leaders Toolkit in English and Spanish. Major funding for the program is provided by REI. C&NN recently expanded its C&NN Worldwide movement with the support of the Disney Conservation Fund. Popular resources such as C&NN’s Nature Clubs for Families Tool Kit and Together in Nature guide are available in Spanish, French, and English, with Chinese edi-
tions forthcoming. C&NN is continually expanding its Worldwide Movement Directory and Map, as well as its C&NN international online community forum. Other C&NN initiatives include the Natural Families Network and the Natural Teachers Network. C&NN’s Nature Clubs for Families Tool Kit provides inspiration, information, and resources for those who are interested in creating nature clubs for families. C&NN’s Natural Teachers Network eGuide contains tools and resources to help teachers “put more Vitamin N into their classrooms.” Part of C&NN’s new strategic focus is improving community health by supporting and encouraging increased free play time in nature. C&NN is forming partnerships across the U.S. to train community health coalitions in promising practices in naturebased solutions to health disparities, such as green schoolyards and community/ school partnerships. Through the generosity of multiple partners and donors, C&NN has helped ensure a world in which all children experience nature in their everyday lives. We urge you to join the movement, to help children now and in generations to come. Children & Nature Network
www.childrenandnature.org
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WINTER 2013 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 21
Rochester’s Best Playground is Inside!
Discovering the National Museum of Play by Scott Eberle This year nearly 600,000 guests will visit The Strong and its National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. With plenty to delight the senses and exercise the muscles they won’t have a passive experience. The museum offers opportunities to climb, to negotiate a tilted room for comical perspective, to compete in side-by-side dragsters and pilot an indoor helicopter, to ride a carousel and spin in its “love tub,” or to follow reef fish and interact with nature even in winter with butterflies in an indoor garden itself shaped as a butterfly. To most guests, the interactive exhibits will look like those at a children’s museum or a science museum. But The Strong’s National Museum of Play is a history museum with play and culture as its centerpiece and play and discovery its educational method. And so the museum is a playground for the mind as well as the body. Playful subjects proved crucial in inviting exhibit developers to design the museum as a garden of intellectual delights. And so if the subject is comic books
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(and the museum’s library holds a very large collection of comic books), then the exhibit — American Comic Book Heroes: The Battle of Good vs. Evil — follows the moral narrative of our Superheroes who tell us so much about what we have valued and feared. When the topic is children’s literature, the exhibit — Reading Adventureland — features a giant walk-in pop-up book where genres come to life; an upside-down house for “nonsense;” a pirate ship for “adventure;” a wizard’s workshop for “fantasy;” and a yellowbrick road that leads to a Fairy Tale Forest where kids empower themselves moving the arms of a 15-foot-tall giant. These experiences will follow guests home. All the exhibits include comfortable book nooks for reading aloud stocked with shelves of books available for checking out with a local library card. The Strong also publishes a scholarly journal: the American Journal of Play, a truly interdisciplinary venture that for the last five years showcased the diverse work of the historians, neuroscientists,
psychologists, biologists, mathematicians, anthropologists, physicians, folklorists, and philosophers who study this complex and serious subject, play. To help it follow a central mission to trace play as it has evolved over the course of the history of the United States, The Strong has a collection that numbers nearly half-a-million objects and chronicles how we Americans have amused ourselves, how we’ve lost ourselves in play, and how we’ve found ourselves in the process of playing. For example, if you ask your friends who they are, they might admit to an identity as a golfer, quilter, skier, or biker. And so the clubs, quilts, skis, bikes, and thousands of other artifacts remind us of our delight in play and its central role in our lives. At The Strong’s National Museum of Play the subject is the object, and the medium is the method. In this museum learning sneaks upon you playfully and stealthily. The Strong
www.thestrong.org
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promoting the
VALUE OF PLAY Through education, research, and outreach, the US Play Coalition promotes the value of play throughout life. The Coalition actively partners with organizations and individuals to amplify the call for an increased recognition of the value of play and more play in communities across the nation and world. Many of our partners support the US Play Coalition through the annual Conference on the Value of Play, an open forum for the exchange of new ideas, research, and practices across professional disciplines. One of the newest Coalition partners is Geisinger Health System, the nation’s largest rural health services organization, and their support is a tremendous statement about the value of play to health and well-being. The US Play Coalition is also pleased to have built new partnerships with IPA/USA, who will be holding their annual meeting in conjunction with the 2014 Conference on the Value of Play, February 16-19. Furthermore the US Play Coalition welcomed new university and non-profit partners this year and would like to acknowledge the ongoing commitment of numerous other sponsors all of whom you can find linked on our website. In addition to these organizations, the US Play Coalition network includes over 2,200 individuals who participate at all levels of play research, advocacy, and practice. Bringing these voices together and facilitating a dialogue on the value of play has been the rewarding challenge of the US Play Coalition, and we invite you to join us at our next major event: The 2014 Conference on the Value of Play: Collaboration and Creativity. The fourth annual conference will take place February 16-19 at the Madren Center at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. The event will attract over 300 individuals from fields such as education, health, landscape architecture, business, research, teaching, medicine, www.playgroundmag.com
by Carly Summers
park and recreation, and more. There will be keynote addresses from play visionaries including Dr. Stuart Brown, Juan Martinez, and Dr. Joe Frost as well as over 70 educational sessions offering CEUs from leaders in play from across the nation and world. At the conference, the US Play Coalition will award grant funding in the form of $3,000 research seed grants and $1,000 action grants. To date, this competitive grant funding process has awarded $24,000, and outcomes include: launch of the Encyclopedia of Play Science, publication of peer-reviewed journal articles, pop-up-playground build days, and more. Year-round the US Play Coalition provides opportunities to extend play knowledge through programs and resources such as: • Play Facilitation Certificate of Completion Training: an online or onsite course teaching adults how to introduce unstructured play through two different facilitation roles – supporting and directing; •
Playground Maintenance Certificate of Completion Training: a two-day comprehensive program designed to instruct park professionals on management, inspection, repair, and documentation of safe play spaces;
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White papers on subjects such as recess and play in education to illuminate the latest research and recommended actions for individuals to take;
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Speaker’s Bureau presenters: inspiring professional speakers that can speak on the value of play at events nationally and internationally.
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We invite you to learn more at usplaycoalition.clemson.edu where you can sign up to receive our free monthly e-newsletter under the tab “Get Involved and Join.” Help us as we help the world rediscover the power of play. US Play Coalition
www.usplaycoalition.clemson.edu WINTER 2013 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 23
Making the Most of Recess by Cindy Wilson Every day at thousands of elementary schools around the country, millions of kids spill onto the playground to experience recess. Recess is a rite of childhood. It is that wonderful time of day when kids get a break from classroom learning to play, socialize, and learn the valuable lessons and lifelong skills like communication, cooperation, problem-solving, negotiation, and others. Earlier this year, the American Academy of Pediatrics released its policy recommendation that called for daily recess as a standard for all elementary schools, stating that “…American Academy of Pediatrics believes that recess is a crucial and necessary component of a child’s development and, as such, it should not be withheld for punitive or academic reasons.”
While recess may not have changed that much over the years, the way that children play has. Today, many kids spend far more time indoors than they did years ago when parents would turn them out to play after school and they wouldn’t come back inside until dinner. Sadly, many neighborhoods aren’t conducive to outdoor play, depriving kids of the opportunity to learn the valuable playground lessons their parents did. Unfortunately, we are seeing the impact of less play time. Principals report that while they overwhelmingly believe that recess is a crucial time for kids to develop social and emotional skills, it is also the time where the disciplinary incidents and bullying occur.
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Playworks has been working to change that by creating a place for every kid on the playground. Through Playworks Training or through its full-time direct service program, the 17-year-old national nonprofit organization uses tools and strategies to ensure that every child has a place to play, to be safe and supported, discover their leadership capabilities, and have plain old-fashioned fun. “Recess and play are the keys to childhood,” says Playworks Founder and CEO Jill Vialet. “School recess offers an unmatched opportunity for kids to play every day. When recess is fun and engaging for them, it carries over into a positive school climate.” Visit a school that has the Playworks program or training. You’ll immediately notice a high number of kids engaged in organized games and activities. The organization teaches standard games like 4-Square, Kickball, and Double Dutch, and is consistently introducing new games and variations. As part of the program, every student at the school is taught Rock-PaperScissors as a basic conflict resolution tool. To make the most of every recess minute, Playworks identifies and trains students to help out on the playground as Junior Coaches, starting up games, handing out equipment, keeping the games going, and ensuring that any student who wants to play has the opportunity to participate. Playworks provides a full-time program coordinator, or “coach,” exclusively to lowincome schools in the urban cities it serves. Playworks Training provides a variety of training and professional development services to schools around the country. To learn more about Playworks or to download a free copy of the Playworks Game Guide. Playworks
www.playworks.org www.playgroundmag.com
Naturalizing the Places of Childhood by Natural Learning Initiative
The Natural Learning Initiative (NLI), College of Design, NC State University is an outreach unit focused on designing children’s play and learning environments. Through research, design assistance, and training, NLI seeks to promote a higher level of engagement, enhanced learning opportunities, and a healthier lifestyle for children and families. NLI develops tools and resources for design, education, and design professionals with the end goal of creating outdoor environments that foster connections with the natural environment. Public parks, nature centers, botanical gardens, zoos, children’s museums, schools and childcare centers, and urban streetscapes all provide opportunities for integrating natural elements into children’s play and family life. Through a partnership with PlayCore, NLI developed two best practice guideline publications. Available free of charge at their respective websites, these publications provide tools for planning and implementing naturalized environments for children and families through text, photos, and illustrations. NatureGrounds: Creating and Retrofitting Play Environments (http://naturegrounds.org) details how to design play environments that integrate living landscapes with manufactured play equipment. Pathways for Play: Infusing play into pathway networks to encourage active lifestyles for children, families, and communities (http://pathwaysforplay.org) supports the discovery of play opportunities in trail and open space development so that children and families continue to be drawn to and value trails and their adjacent natural environments. Currently in final draft stage, the National Guidelines for Nature Play and Learning Areas publication is being developed with the National Wildlife Federation through funding from the U.S. Forest Service. Representatives from fourteen leading national organizations have aided in the development and promotion of these policy and practice guidelines for nature play areas in childhood and family institutions, including all of the above-mentioned contexts as well as federal lands. www.playgroundmag.com
Kids Together Park (KTP), in Cary, NC, is an example of naturalization, or the integration of manufactured equipment with the designed landscape to create a universal or inclusive community recreation facility. Robin Moore and Nilda Cosco, co-founders of NLI, contributed to the participatory design planning and development of KTP, and collaborated with Little and Little Landscape Architects to build the park. The findings of the Post Occupancy Evaluation done in 2007 contribute to evidence-based support for the universal design and naturalization of settings in public parks. NLI seeks opportunities to partner with programs that use outdoor spaces frequented by children and families and offers training opportunities for professionals who design and manage natural play areas. Recently the Blanchie Carter Discovery Park at the Southern Pines Elementary School hosted a NC Play Daze event. Blanchie Carter Discovery Park is a four-acre example of NLI’s effort
to naturalize school grounds, and serves the surrounding community as a public park in addition to being the outdoor environment for the school. The aim of Play Daze events is to bring communities together to play outdoors in a local community nature space. Substantial research demonstrates that naturalized play environments contribute to the health of individuals who spend time in them, as well as to the health of the environment itself. When children play and learn in natural settings, they gain an understanding of why it is important to care for and protect nature and will be more likely to continue enjoying outdoor environments as they grow up. Natural Learning Initiative
www.naturalearning.org
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Restoring Play to the Lives of Children by Joan Almon
The Alliance for Childhood collaborates with parents, professionals, and like-minded organizations representing a broad spectrum of interests. We are committed to a healthy and creative childhood for every child and are deeply concerned that modern life makes it more and more difficult to achieve this goal. In part, we work to lessen the obstacles to a good childhood, but in even larger part we work toward strengthening the elements that comprise a vibrant and wonderful childhood. These are captured in our joint campaign called the Decade for Childhood: 2012-2022. To learn more about this initiative, please visit www.decadeforchildhood.org. Much of our current focus is directed toward restoring play to the lives of children. We speak out to promote play with the media and through lectures, workshops, and publications. We strive to overcome barriers to play, including the fear of risk. To help parents and the public better understand the value of risk in play, we recently released our newest publication, Adventure: The Value of Risk in Children’s Play. The Alliance also co-hosts events to help prepare adults to advocate for and support play in a wide range of settings. The Alliance has been introducing the profession of playwork to parks departments, children’s museums, camps, and others. This is a well-established field of work in the United Kingdom and other
parts of the world. Playworkers understand play for all ages, support it in a variety of settings, and do not interfere with children’s natural inclination to play unless it is clearly called for. Another area of focus for the Alliance is on preserving experiential, play-based learning in preschools and returning it to kindergartens. Through play, young children explore the world and make it their own. It is the most potent form of learning available to them, yet it is often neglected in favor of less effective teaching methods that can be detrimental to children’s healthy development. The Alliance has published a number of articles and reports on this subject, and is developing an online toolkit for implementing play-based experiential education in early education. As we extend our reach, we take on new areas of work. Linda Rhoads, the Alliance’s new Executive Director, comes from the environmental education field and has strong links to organizations with deep commitments to advancing outdoor experiences in nature for young children. With them we are developing local and national strategies that create and promote opportunities for children to engage in nature play. The Alliance works on projects and advocacy work at local and national levels, believing that social change happens among the grass roots as well as at the grass tops, and everywhere in between. To keep abreast of Alliance activities, sign up on our website to receive monthly updates and periodic alerts. Additionally, all of our publications are
available to download or order through our website. Alliance For Childhood
www.allianceforchildhood.org
HELP CHILDREN BECOME AWARE OF PLAYGROUND SAFETY WITH
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1-800-653-7529 26 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2013
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SAFETY AWARENESS PROGRAM
1-800-388-2196
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Championing the Child’s Right to Play by Dr. Marcy Guddemi
The origin of the International Play Association (IPA) and its affiliates in nearly 50 countries is close to 100 years old! In 1923, Save the Children founder, Eglantyne Jebb, drafted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. Jebb believed that the rights of a child should be especially protected and enforced. These ideas were adopted by the International Save the Children Union in Geneva on February 23, 1923 and endorsed by the League of Nations General Assembly on November 26, 1924 as the World Child Welfare Charter. These proclamations, however, were not enforceable by international law, but rather only guidelines for countries to follow. Consequently, on November 20, 1959, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a much expanded version as its own Declaration of the Rights of the Child, adding ten principles in place of the original five. Principal Nine includes: “The child shall have full opportunity for play and recreation which should be directed to the same purposes as education; society and the public authorities shall endeavor to promote the enjoyment of the right...” November 20th has been adopted as the Universal Children’s Day as an ongoing celebration of that historic adoption. Meanwhile, interest in providing quality play opportunities for children in Europe had been gradually increasing over the decades before the signing of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. In 1955, a major seminar on playgrounds was held in Europe. The need for international action was evident. In 1961, IPA was born in Scandinavia and held its first conference in Copenhagen that year. IPA has since held 18 International Conferences, and the next one is scheduled for Istanbul in 2014. The American Association for the Child’s Right to Play (IPA/USA) was formed in www.playgroundmag.com
Philadelphia in 1973 as the USA affiliate of the International Play Association. IPA/USA has also held multiple national conferences. When the United Nations named 1979 the International Year of the Child, new energy was injected into IPA. In the 1980s IPA was effective in establishing the word “play” in Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; and thus, in 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which strengthened the Declaration of Rights of 1959, was adopted by the UN General Assembly. On September 2, 1990 it became international law with one notable exception: the U.S. who signed the Charter is the only organized country that has not ratified it. The Convention consists of 54 articles that address the basic human rights that children everywhere are entitled. The mission of IPA, IPA/USA, and the nearly 50 other national affiliates is to protect, preserve, and promote play as a fundamental right for all humans, as stated in Article 31 of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. In particular, IPA/USA does the following: maintains an active website with resources on various play topics; publishes an online peer-reviewed eJournal; holds national conferences; and joins with other like-minded professional organizations for publication of position papers. In addition, IPA/USA members have all the benefits of membership in the International Play Association as well. International Play Association
Calendar
CPSI Course Calendar January 9-11
Landover, MD
301-352-7203
13-15
Indianapolis, IN
317-573-4035
February 17-19
Corpus Christi, TX
512-267-5550
25-27
Novi, MI
517-485-9888
26-28
Ft. Myers, FL
850-878-3221
March 3-5
Bellevue, WA
360-459-9396
4-6
Ontario, CA
916-665-2777
11-13
Bismarck, ND
701-355-4458
12-14
Merriam, KS
785-235-6533
18-20
Milford, DE
302-422-1104
24-26
Phoenix, AZ
602-335-1962
26-28
LaGrange, KY
502-225-0655
April 1-3
Rocky Hill, CT
860-721-0384
14-16
Henderson/Las Vegas, NV
702-267-4140
30-May 2
Columbus, OH
614-794-9190
May 7-9
Lake Oswego, OR
503-853-9126
www.ipausa.org
WINTER 2013 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 27
Leadership in Promoting the Benefits of Free, Outdoor Play on Playgrounds by Lesley Sillaman
The International Play Equipment Manufacturers Association (IPEMA) is the playground industry’s leading voice in promoting both playground safety and the benefits of free, outdoor play for everyone. IPEMA’s leadership in playground safety stems from its roots as a non-profit, membership, trade association to represent and promote an open market for manufacturers of playground equipment and surfacing. IPEMA helps its membership by providing information on key economic and governmental issues affecting the play equipment industry and promoting relationships among related organizations. IPEMA also provides third-party product certification services for public play equipment and surfacing in the United States and Canada, ensuring
compliance with ASTM and CSA trade standards (voluntary). IPEMA certified equipment and surfacing is the “go-to” for playground owners and operators to help provide a playground that maximizes safe play, while maintaining challenging, innovative equipment with an appropriate amount of risk for learning. In addition to its widely-known leadership in playground safety, in recent years, IPEMA has become known as an advocate for increasing free play for all kids. Recognizing that there was increasing competition for a child’s free time, IPEMA membership companies joined to fund a communication and education campaign that would reinforce the importance of free play for all. The Voice of Play initiative, launched in 2006, promotes the benefits of free play on playgrounds by providing information and resources to encourage the quality and quantity of children’s play and the use of playgrounds. Through resources on the Voice of Play website (www.voiceofplay.com) and a
social media outreach effort, the initiative heightens public awareness among key professional and consumer groups, including parents, children, community groups, school administrators, parks and recreation professionals, playground designers, and equipment manufacturers. The movement has grown, sowing the early seeds for the work of the US Play Coalition – which IPEMA is a proud sponsor – and by developing partnerships and relationships with leading play advocates like President’s Challenge Physical Activity and Fitness Awards Program, play advocate Kevin Carroll, and through its sponsorship of the Encyclopedia of Play Science, led by National Institute for Play. Throughout the years, IPEMA and the Voice of Play have created several important tools to help parents, teachers, and caregivers prioritize play, including: • The Play Pledge, a downloadable tool that parents and kids can sign and keep in a visible place in their homes, reminding them of the importance of one hour of free play time per day. •
Our Board of Advisors – populated by four of the most esteemed experts in the play industry today, Dr. Joe Frost, Teri Hendy, Dr. Stuart Brown, and Ken Kutska – these powerful voices have helped amplify the Voice of Play’s message to both consumer and trade audiences for the past several years.
•
The Checklist for Access – a tool developed to help the playground industry, as well as owners and operators, to navigate the 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards, which became mandatory in March of 2012.
•
A guide for “Choosing IPEMACertified Playground Surfacing to meet ADA Requirements,” which helps playground owners understand the varying factors that affect making a choice about accessible playground surfacing. IPEMA
www.ipema.org 28 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2013
www.playgroundmag.com
Who’s Talking About Play? Excerpts taken from The Play and Playground Encyclopedia – www.pgpedia.com
FREE-RANGE KIDS www.freerangekids.com
PLAYBORHOOD www.playborhood.com
The blog, Free-Range Kids, is written by Lenore Skenazy, a syndicated columnist, who was dubbed “America’s Worst Mom” by the media for allowing her 9-year-old son to ride the subway in New York City alone in 2008. What started as an opportunity for a child to face a challenge and experience some independence resulted in a blog, a book, and a movement. To defend what some thought were her radical ideas about parenting, Lenore wrote the book, Free-Range Kids: How To Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts With Worry). Her book and her blog take “an old-fashioned, common sense approach to parenting in these overprotective times.” Free-Range parenting promotes teaching children important safety information, such as “how to cross the street, how to ride a bike safely, how to talk to strangers but not go off with strangers.” The Free-Range philosophy believes that as children become more street smart, they can be given more freedom which helps them become more confident and self-reliant. Allowing children to make their own decisions and deal with some risk results in their learning responsibility. The Free-Range Kids blog has become one of the central clearinghouse websites for airing concerns of media reports that demonstrate the trends of adults who overly protect children from perceived dangers. The blog attempts to show the big disconnect between the horrors on TV from the media and the reality of America today with actual statistics showing that crime against children is down in recent years.
Since 2007, Mike Lanza, an ex-Silicon Valley entrepreneur, has posted to his blog, Playborhood, longing for the “Leave it to Beaver” days that seem to be lost forever. Concerned that unstructured free play has “virtually vanished from the lives of most children in America,” he is committed to voicing his concerns to build a community of parents who will become more aware of the problems and seek to implement the best solutions. In April 2012, Mike published a book on this topic entitled Playborhood: Turn Your Neighborhood Into a Place for Play. It is aimed at parents who would like to give their children a life of neighborhood play, but who need some inspiration and ideas on how to make it happen. Realizing that he needs to win over the hearts and minds of parents, he is seeking to promote a “Playborhood Movement” that will empower parents to give children “a life of play and autonomy in their neighborhoods.” Mike argues that the “ultra-structured, adult-mediated American childhood of today” is more than just a lack of fun for children. With the restriction of childdirected play and freedom to roam the neighborhoods, children lack opportunities “to develop social skills, leadership skills, and creativity.” Unlike many bloggers and authors who focus on describing this problem, Mike’s aim is to find solutions and to communicate them to parents.
www.playgroundmag.com
RETHINKING CHILDHOOD www.rethinkingchildhood.com Tim Gill, a leading philosopher on childhood in the United Kingdom, launched the blog Rethinking Childhood in order to reach more people and engage more people in a conversation concerning “the changing nature of childhood.” As an author, speaker, consultant, and researcher, Tim believes that children have the potential to be “resilient, responsible, capable and creative” if they are allowed to “take risks, make mistakes, have everyday adventures and test themselves and their boundaries.” Tim founded Rethinking Childhood in July 2011 because it was “simply the most effective way of sharing my work and engaging with others in the connected, digital world that so many of us now live in.” After 20 months of regular blogging, Tim noted in April 2013 that his top 4 posts had more views than the 5,000 copies of his book, No Fear: Growing Up in a Risk Averse Society, which had been sold by that time. A point of significance to Tim is the “importance of sound evidence.” He believes that “it’s so easy to slip into armchair nostalgia, lazy generalizations and dodgy assumptions when thinking about childhood and how it has changed. But if the debate about children’s everyday lives is to step outside the bar-room – as it must – then it has to square up to the facts.” Tim continues to advocate for “a new philosophy: one that truly embraces risk, uncertainty and real challenge – even real danger – as essential ingredients of a rounded childhood.”
WINTER 2013 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 29
Playground Magazine’s
Reference of Play Organizations A WORLD FIT FOR KIDS!
www.worldfitforkids.org 678 South La Fayette Park Place Los Angeles, CA 90057-3206 (213) 387-7712
ACTIVE LIVING RESEARCH
activelivingresearch.org University of California, San Diego 3900 Fifth Avenue, Suite 310 San Diego, CA 92013 (619) 260-5534
ALLIANCE FOR BIKING & WALKING
www.peoplepoweredmovement.org 1612 K Street NW, Suite 802 P.O. Box 65150 Washington, DC 20006 (202) 223-3726
ALLIANCE FOR CHILDHOOD www.allianceforchildhood.org P.O. Box 20973 Park West P.O. New York, NY 10025 (202) 643-8242
AMERICA SCORES
www.americascores.org 520 8th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Suite 201C New York, NY 10018 (212) 868-9510
30 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE WINTER 2013
AMERICA WALKS americawalks.org P.O. Box 10581 Portland, OR 97296 (503) 757-8342
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE CHILD’S RIGHT TO PLAY www.ipausa.org
AMERICAN CAMP ASSOCIATION
www.acacamps.org 5000 State Road 67 North Martinsville, IN 46151-7902 (765) 342-8456 – (800) 428-2267
ASSOCIATION FOR CHILDHOOD EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL
www.acei.org 1101 16th Street NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20036 (202) 372-9986 - (800) 423-3563
ASSOCIATION OF CHILDREN’S MUSEUMS www.childrensmuseums.org 2711 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 600 Arlington, VA 22202 (703) 224-3100
CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK
www.childrenandnature.org 808 14th Ave. SE Minneapolis, MN 55414
GREEN HEARTS INSTITUTE FOR NATURE IN CHILDHOOD www.greenheartsinc.org 4502 South 42nd Street Omaha, NE 68107-1059 (402) 344-8711
HIGH FIVE
www.highfive.org 1 Concorde Gate, Suite 302 Toronto, ON M3C 3N6 (888) 222-9838
IMAGINATION PLAYGROUND
www.imaginationplayground.com 5 Union Square West, 8th Floor New York, NY 10003 (866) 816-8608
INTERNATIONAL PLAY ASSOCIATION www.ipaworld.org
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL GROUNDS ALLIANCE greenschoolyards.org
www.playgroundmag.com
INTERNATIONAL TOY LIBRARY ASSOCIATION www.itla-toylibraries.org
KABOOM!
www.kaboom.org 4301 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite ML-1 Washington, DC 20008 (202) 659-0215
MIRACLE LEAGUE ASSOCIATION
www.miracleleague.com 1506 Klondike Road, Suite 105 Conyers, GA 30094 (770) 760-1933
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF YOUTH SPORTS www.ncys.org 7185 S.E. Seagate Lane Stuart, FL 34997 (772) 781-1452
NATIONAL LEKOTEK CENTER www.lekotek.org 2001 N. Clybourn Ave., 1st Floor Chicago, IL 60614 (773) 528-5766
NATURAL LEARNING INITIATIVE
naturalearning.org College of Design 200 Pullen Road NC State University Raleigh, NC 27695-7701 (919) 515-8345
www.playgroundmag.com
NATURE EXPLORE
www.natureexplore.org 1010 Lincoln Mall, Suite 103 Lincoln, NE 68508 (402) 467-6112
NFL PLAY 60
www.nfl.com/play60
OUTDOORS ALLIANCE FOR KIDS outdoorsallianceforkids. wordpress.com
PARTNERSHIP FOR PLAY EVERY DAY
www.playeveryday.org If you are interested in joining the Partnership for Play Every Day, please call the YMCA of the USA at 202-835-9043, NRPA at 202-887-0290, or NASPE at 703-476-3410.
PLAYWORKS
www.playworks.org 380 Washington Street Oakland, CA 94607 (510) 893-4180
POP-UP ADVENTURE PLAY
THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF PLAY tasplay.org
THE STRONG
www.thestrong.org One Manhattan Square Rochester, NY 14607 (585) 263-2700
ULTIMATE BLOCK PARTY
www.ultimateblockparty.com
US PLAY COALITION
usplaycoalition.clemson.edu Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management Clemson University 128 McGinty Court 263 Lehotsky Clemson, SC 29634-0735 (864) 656-2525
VOICE OF PLAY
www.voiceofplay.com
YMCA OF THE USA www.ymca.net 101 N. Wacker Drive Chicago, IL 60606 (800) 872-9622
popupadventureplaygrounds. wordpress.com (646) 470-7852
SANDBOX SUMMIT
sandboxsummit.org 76 Sylvan Road North Westport, CT 06880 (203) 216-0465
WINTER 2013 PLAYGROUND MAGAZINE 31
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